​‘Poroshenko promised war until liberation of Ukraine’

President Poroshenko continues to lie, blaming self-defense militias of Donetsk and Lugask for violating the ceasefire. This contradicts documented cases of Kiev's continuous assaults on civilians in the area, foreign affairs expert Nebojsa Malic told RT.

RT:How do you
think the European leaders feel about Poroshenko's decision,
considering their peace efforts when the truce was in
effect?

Nebojsa Malic: I think this has been entirely
expected. I suspected something like this would happen following
the signing of the deal with the EU. President Poroshenko's
speech tonight was a war-mongering one. He essentially promised a
war until the final liberation of Ukraine. And he promised to
hunt down all those he called bandits and marauders. So there was
not a single conciliatory note in it. It is very disappointing
from a standpoint of reasonable people, but I would not think for
a second that the EU was not expecting this.

RT:Ukraine's president said there could
still be a ceasefire if anti-government forces follow his peace
plan. Is that a real possibility at this point?

NM: Not in the least. His proposal was not a
peace plan, it was essentially a demand for unconditional
surrender, offering zero guarantees for the people fighting for
self-determination that they would have any of their legitimate
demands met by the government in Kiev. There is absolutely no
chance for the rebels to take the so-called peace plan into
advisement, let alone consideration.

RT:What else does Washington want Russia to
do? Moscow has already invited Ukrainian border guards and OSCE
staff to be stationed on its side of the border.

NM: I don’t think Washington will stop blaming
Russia until the very last person refusing to recognize a Nazi
Ukrainian state is either dead or in prison. I think the whole
process has been geared towards blaming Russia for the National
Guard murdering people opposed to the junta. Honestly, Russia is
not really involved in this. This is between the junta in Kiev,
the people in Donbass, and Western powers backing the junta in
Kiev.

I find the whole thing – “this is Ukraine's decision and we will
respect this” – extremely cynical, because Ukraine's decision in
November was not to sign the deal with the EU. And the US and the
EU did not respect that. In fact, they basically set their
puppets forth to take over power in the February coup. So this is
just extreme cynicism.

RT:President Poroshenko says his forces
would never attack civilians and residential areas. So who could
be behind the constant bombing? We just heard from two
eyewitnesses who are sheltering from explosions in
Kramatorsk...

NM: Well, someone is obviously lying. If
President Poroshenko is making a statement that is obviously not
true to its face, then I think it is obvious who was lying. If we
have documented instances that troops loyal either to the
government in Kiev or to oligarchs, the Right Sector leaders –
they are all on the same side – if we have documented instances
of them bombing civilians and murdering the innocent, I do not
see why we should take President Poroshenko at his word.